(a) Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a combination pressure release ergonomic pillow, and more particularly, to one that defines the optimal comforts depending on the individual user.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
On average, people spend one third of their lifetime in sleeping (eight hours per day). The importance of choosing a good pillow meeting ergonomic standards to improve sleeping quality is elf-explanatory. The standard pillow fails to properly support one's cervical vertebrae, which can result in deformation, and also the standard pillow lacks certain massage effects. Quality sleep essentially depends on whether the seven cervical vertebrae (C1˜C7) are comfortably resting on the pillow.
Certain pressure release pillows have claimed to provide support effects and cervical vertebrae protection generally. These are available in the market and are usually designed with a simple arc top surface for the head and the neck of the user to rest on to achieve the support results. However, the degree of the arc and the height of those pillows are fixed to prevent any adjustment; and there is the absence of any channel designed to release the pressure. Accordingly, in the case of a user who has lighter and smaller head, her/his cervical vertebrae are over supported due to less deformation of the support arc. The head of the user tends to lean back which causes a sore neck. On the other hand, if the user has a heavier head long neck, the support arc of the top of the pillow is subject to greater deformation and result in comparatively lower support to the cervical vertebrae, thus the head tends to lean forward and the throat retreats to compress the nerves of the cervical vertebrae. In either case, the pillow makes its user very uncomfortable. Those pillows, which ergonomically fail to adapt to the individual user due to noncompliance with head and neck in the design of construction, actually do not provide any results of pressure release.
Referring to FIG. 14 of the accompanying drawings, a pillow 80 of the prior art has disposed at its bottom a slot for deformation when the head of the user rests upon it. However, the height of the pillow cannot be adjusted depending on the size of the head and the neck of the individual user, thus failing to define a comfortable pressure release curve for the individual user. Furthermore, there is the absence of a support for the back of head of the user.
As illustrated in FIG. 15, another pillow 90 of the prior art has disposed at its bottom multiple corrugated laminates 91 each retractable for the adjustment of the height of the pillow. Whereas, the dimension of each laminate 91 is the same as that of the body of the pillow, the construction is much complicated and incurs higher production cost. Furthermore, since upon adjusting the height of the pillow the laminate 91 is retracted or inserted in one piece, it lacks variations in the adjustment of the height of the pillow 90.